Search

This, That, and The Other Thing

Open Search
Tag

The Other Thing

Bluegold

May first blog of the new year was lunch with my foodie friend Debbie at Pacific City in Huntington Beach .There are so many places from which to choose. Bluegold is on the upper level with a great view of the ocean.

 

Debbie’s Cioppino looked good enough to eat, so she did – loving every bite. My, choice the Thursday special, was Pork Schnitzel. With two large cutlets on a bed of warm German potato salad with olive oil, it was almost perfection!  The little frisee salad on top was also quite good.

 

It doesn’t take much to talk us into dessert, so we shared the Key Lime Pie.  Jeff said, “I’m from Florida so I know about key limes. They fly these in “.

IMG_20190103_142518

The Other Thing – I took one cutlet in a doggie bag for later. When I looked in the bag, Jeff had written on the box, “Enjoy dinner” and added a little smiley face. How cool was that!!

 

0

“An Americano Supper”

My first Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School demonstration class today was presented by Joanna Chun, Culinary Studio Manager for Macy’s. Classes are held at Macy’s Home Store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.  Complimentary coffee, tea, and water were served during the class. We enjoyed generous servings of each dish – it was not just a tasting. Joanna’s Sous Chef  for this session was Susan Carter who will also be presenting cooking demonstrations in the coming weeks.

Chef Joanna Chun joins the Macy’s team with an impressive resume. Trained at the International Culinary Center in New York, she has worked in the kitchen at Jean-Georges and was pastry chef at Le Cirque. Her focus at Stonewall Kitchen is to offer unique cooking methods and fixes for cooking mistakes as well as detailed food preparation and presentation.

Today’s  4-course menu consisted of Mixed Greens with Orange Supreme, Hazelnuts and Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette – Roasted Eggplant Risotto with Capers and Basil – Honey Roasted Carrots – Coffee and Chili Rubbed Ribeye Steak – Malted Chocolate Espresso Cake.

Chef Chun showed us step by step preparation for each dish and encouraged questions. Detailed recipes were given to the attendees as well as suggestions on where certain ingredients could be purchased locally.

It was a delightful hour and a half, and I came away with a full and contented tummy!     I look forward to more of these demonstrations.

A few kinks need to be work out, but this promises to be a popular and useful attraction at Macy’s. It will surely draw new customers. The Stonewall Kitchen Café is open daily from 11am-3pm. I ate there on opening day. The food is good and the Wild Maine Blueberry Lemonade is a delight!!

The Other Thing:  Tip of the Day – “Black Dust” spice mix from Savory Spice Shop in OC Mart Mix at SoCo Collection as a pre-mixed dry rub for the steak.

 

1

Crescent City Christmas – Part 2

The annual neon light display in City Park is called “Celebration in the Oaks”. It is quite exciting if you are a child, but I guess as we grow older we are much more difficult to impress. It was nice but we were expecting something more spectacular. We can at least say we had the experience.

City Park was so crowded that getting in and out by car was frustrating. When we were ready to leave it took 2 calls to get an Uber. The first driver gave up and went back to his home base. The line was so long to get in that it was much easier to walk to our driver  than to wait for the driver to get to us.

 

0

Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School & Cafe

On November 28th, I attended the ribbon cutting for Macy’s South Coast Plaza new café and cooking school. Located in Macy’s Home Store on Bear Street, the new space is quite nice and very spacious. The café waitstaff passed out samples of one of the sandwiches on their menu as well as sips of their Wild Main Blueberry Lemonade. Both were quite tasty.

Many ingredients from the food listed on their menu are sold there in a little retail area in front of the café. I went back later and had lunch because I wanted more than samples. The lemonade is so good. The manager said they use their Wilde Main Blueberry Jam mixed right into the lemonade. So, you can buy the jam and make it at home. The sandwich was the Ham, Fig & Brie served on a ciabatta roll. The brie is melted just enough, and with thinly sliced apple-glazed uncured ham and prosciutto, it was heavenly! I opted for a side of their homemade chips – large and crispy.

The first Stonewall Kitchen School demonstration classes began November 28th and run through December 29th. Some of the titles are “Harvest Luncheon in Italia”, “Date Night in December”, “Seasonal Comforts”, “An American Supper” and “Casual Dining”. There will be generous food sampling, complimentary non-alcoholic beverages, and recipes to take home. These first 90-minute classes range from $50 to $60. This culinary experience will definitely be on my calendar for next year.

The Other Thing – Everyone at Macy’s involved with this new café and cooking school are very friendly and efficient. They even remembered my name when I went back for lunch.

1

A Little Nostalgia

img_20181101_115325

I went to Culver City High School with Tony Berlant. He was a creative, artistic type even back then, but a lot of kids thought he was just weird. It was the 50s – what did THEY know!! In the 1960s, Tony was part of the Pop Art Movement and hung out in New York and L.A. and was associated with artists Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Ed Moses, Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Diebenkorn. Even I, with my limited knowledge of the art scene, know these artists. He has produced an amazing body of work, in formats using painting and sculpture. It is difficult to label his work so I won’t try. He has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. His work at Kohn Gallery in West Hollywood is a new direction his work has taken in the last couple of years. The space is vast, bright and open with stark white walls and polished concrete floors. It is the perfect backdrop for Tony’s work. My brother and I drove up to see it on Thursday. Entitled “Fast Forward”, my photos do not do justice to the pieces. They are magnificent!!

The image titled “Self” from 1960 is a photo of him taken by Andy Warhol.

Then off to Culver City and Johnnie’s Pastrami for lunch. Our dad used to take us there way back when. This is one of the places from my childhood which is actually still there!

The Other Thing – We ate our sandwiches under a tree in Veteran’s Memorial Park. We used to walk to the auditorium there for our school assemblies.

1

Party at the Mission Inn

Fortieth (obviously not mine) birthday celebration here. What a magnificient place to hold any event. There were at least five weddings last night, and a convention was in town.

A little walk around the grounds…..

There is a pedestrian promenade attached to the grounds that runs a couple blocks. There were some pre-Halloween celebrations going on. Stopped at Provbition (yes, that’s spelled correctly) for pre-dinner appetizers.

Dinner for eight in the Mission Inn courtyard. Weather was hot yesterday so it was a perfect evening outside. Dinner was good, nothing special, but the yummy cake made by Jennifer for Mickey’s 40th was over-the-top delicious!!

The Other Thing – Long drive but well worth it to spend time in this lovely place with people I love(you know who you are)!!

0

MAMA’S Comfort Food & Cocktails

I wasn’t going to blog about Mama’s. I was just going to enjoy a belated birthday lunch with my friend Julie. As soon as we walked in, I completely changed my mind. This place is a hoot!!

First of all, our waitress, Jennette, is now on my “10 Favorite Waitpersons” list. The menu is newspaper-style and fun to read. Their Taco Tuesday is on Monday, and the next day is “Where’s My Wife Wednesday”.

Julie had the Old Fashioned Grilled Cheese made with ham and 5 kinds of cheese. Any cheese sandwich with Havarti on it is super OK by me. I chose Cayla’s Vegan Sam-Wich with grilled chicken. Piled with arugula, avocado, basil aioli, red onion and tomato, this concoction was so full of flavor. My mouth was watering just looking at it! The parmesan garlic fries were nice and crispy.

We went to the Mama’s on Los Alamitos Boulevard, but their original restaurant is at Beach and Atlanta in Huntington Beach – much closer for me.

The Other Thing – They serve Thrifty ice cream! We shared a scoop of Cherry Chocolate Chip. I had forgotten just how yummy Thrifty ice cream is. It is not around much any more. I think there are some in the Rite Aid drug stores.

0

Two Left Forks

Located in Irvine, this restaurant replaced Lucca where my two besties and I used to meet regularly for lunch. We had the same table and the same waiter for several years. Those days are gone I am sad to say, but Two Left Forks was worth the visit.

Our waiter was very attentive (also quite cute) and gave us plenty of time to chit chat. After Jennifer’s and my usual iced tea order, we decided to split the Hazelnut Crusted Goat Cheese Croquettes. See yumminess below.

img_20181015_112818

Then we both opted for the Prime Rib Ciabatta. How could we not. Jen had French fries with it and I had the Caesar salad. (It made me feel like I was eating healthy!!)

The Other Thing – The menu is varied with dishes including items to share. This seems to be the current culinary fad. It all looked good, so a return visit may be warranted.

1

Hi(gh) Renaissance!

Bowers Museum in Santa Ana has a series of lectures entitled “Art in Context”. They cover various subjects about the history and appreciation of art and artists over the centuries.

This 6-part series is about the Masters of Italian Art during the High Renaissance in Rome, Florence and Venice. Guest lecturer is Dr. Lisa Boutin Vitela, Professor of Art History at Cerritos College. She is an expert on the Renaissance period.

A few photos of the museum grounds

Part One was October 3rd with a introduction and a study of the work of Leonardo da Vinci.

img_20181003_105556

October 10 – Part 2
Early Michelangelo

October 17 – Part 3
Raphael in Urbino, Florence and Rome

October 24 – Part 4
Bramante and High Renaissance Architecture

October 31 – Part 5
Titian and High Renaissance Art in Venice

November 7 – Part 6
Late Michelangelo

These lectures are entertaining and highly enlightening. Whatever you think you know, it’s only a fraction of what you will learn here.

The Other Thing – The lectures are 11am until noon. Stay later and have lunch at Tangata – a little pricey but very good!

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑